Earth's Refugee
by MadFace
Summary: She didn't know what was happening. One minute, the sky was blue and all the children around her were laughing. The next minute, the blue sky was in flames. She found her life in the same situation as she ran.


**Here's my first one shot for the Mass Effect trilogy! How I love these games. The bad thing is that I got all into Mass Effect 2, then I got to the first cutscene with Kaiden in it. After that cutscene, the entire game freezes, and it takes a minute for the PS3 to shut down. -_- I'm not giving up though! I've just stared playing Mass Effect 3, and I love it too! It's so good. I've almost cried three times now, and that's saying something!**

**Sorry for my rambling. ^_^ I hope you enjoy this one-shot! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect trilogy. The Mass Effect Trilogy belongs to its rightful and respectful owners. **

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One minute the sky was a beautiful blue, loved by all the playful children playing tag with each other. The next, the blue sky was accompanied by a large, black object that was oddly shaped like a hand. All the children stopped, staring up at the object with wide, curious eyes. The first child to scream was a small boy wearing a black t-shirt. He ran as fast as possible, soon leading the other children away. They all wanted to be safe, they all wanted to find their parents, except one child. He was small, adorning shaggy, light brown hair and wearing a grey hoodie. He ran too, except not to home or to his parents. The young boy sprinted towards what appeared to be a station, and that's where he disappeared.

Another child, who did not like being called a child at all, bolted wherever her legs took her, tears blinding her vision. She was a rather typical height for her age. The girl reached five foot and two inches at the current moment, and this helped her tremendously as she ducked a falling, burning tree. The metal ground beneath her scraped her bare elbows as she slid on the ground, gathering a wince from her. A droplet of blood trickled down from the cut that was now on her elbow, yet she ignored it as she clumsily got to her feet.

That's when she spotted the boy, halting in her fast footsteps. The boy stopped two, only briefly, yet this allowed both to make eye contact. As he ran into the station, she decided to follow, and leapt over some burning debris. She slowed down as she entered the building, surveying the area. A door was barely propped open, revealing a room in flames. She frowned and turned her head when she heard grunting. The boy was climbing into an open ventilation shaft. The two made eye contact again, and he scurried off.

She smirked as she crouched down, following him. He sat, huddled into a ball as he stared at the other side of the shaft in front of him. He glanced over at her, yet returned to staring at the shaft in front of him. "What's your name?" she whispered. He ignored her, rocking back and forth. The girl frowned and scanned the area. She spotted a medication kit across the room, and crawled out of the cramped ventilation shaft.

As she rushed over to the kit, she heard voices. Her eyes widened, her heart thumping rapidly as she scanned the area. She took a few steps back and forth, and spotted the boy crawling out. He looked at her expectantly, and she realized that he must've gotten hurt and wanted the medi-gel. She put a single finger to her lips and ran over to the ventilation shaft, scurrying into it. The boy followed in pursuit, but not before he seemed to be caught by the owner of the voices.

The girl stiffened as a familiar voice reassured him. She gave him an incredulous look as he refused help, and shook her head. Swallowing roughly, she poked her head out from behind him, catching the sight of a woman with light brown hair pulled back into a bun holding a gun. Relief bubbled into her chest when she spotted the weapon, a wide smile replacing her earlier frown. "If you don't mind, can I come along?" she asked, voice soft and quiet.

The woman seemed surprised to see another child there, yet smiled softly. She held out a hand, and the girl grinned widely. She scooted past the boy, and crawled out of the ventilation shaft. She took the woman's gloved hand, and felt safe. "Be safe," she said, turning around. The grin disappeared when she didn't see him in his old position. "Hmph…" The girl turned around, facing the woman with bright, green eyes. The girl spotted another older looking man behind her, eyeing her suspiciously. "Thanks you so much. When I saw the hand, I just ran. The other kids ran to their parents, but I didn't know where to go…What's happening to Earth?" she asked, voice concerned.

The woman's eyes suddenly held sorrow as she looked away, worry lines appearing. "It's getting attacked, but don't worry," she informed her. When the two made eye contact again, the woman forced a reassuring smile onto her face. "Everything will be fine."

The girl tilted her head up at the woman. "What should I call you?" she questioned. "Your voice sounds familiar, along with your face, but I can't remember what your name is." She crossed her arms as she delved into deep thinking.

"I'm Athena Shepard. Call me Shepard," the woman who wished to be called Shepard told her. She laughed as she saw the younger girl's eyes lighten with realization.

"Ah! That's right! I remember now…" she trailed off, staring off into space before shaking her head, smiling cheekily. "My sister dressed up as you for Halloween last year. She ran around shooting at strangers with a toy gun…she's seven…" A look of horror and sorrow came across her face as she grasped Shepard's arm, eyes wide. "What will happen to them?" she gasped.

Shepard looked away, eyes downcast. The girl swallowed roughly, releasing her arm. She took a shaky breath. "They're…dead, aren't they?" she murmured, voice wavering.

Shepard bent down and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, looking her in the eye. "I'll get _you _out of here alive, though. I promise. Now, what should I call you?" she told her, eyes honest and voice firm.

"My name's Audrey."

Shepard gave a weak smile before standing upright again. She nodded towards the door. "Well Audrey, let's get going."

Audrey had taken cover as Shepard and the man named Anderson shot at horrid monsters, ducking down and whimpering as each bullet hit its target. At one point, one of the monsters had gotten too close to her and bitten her wrist, causing her to scream out and start sobbing at the throbbing pain. Shepard had killed it right away, punching it in the neck. The thing's neck had snapped, somehow, and Audrey found herself happy that it was dead. She spat on its corpse as she continued crying, now releasing her tears silently.

When Shepard grabbed her forearm and started sprinting towards a ship that was nearing them, she stopped crying, staring at the beautiful ship in awe. "You're going to have to jump, Audrey," Shepard told her, causing said girl to look up at her with terrified eyes. Audrey gulped, looking at the gap between her and the ship. "You'll be fine."

Audrey nodded, and released her grip on Shepard, which she just noticed. "Sorry," she murmured. Shepard only nodded. Audrey took a deep breath, stepped back a few steps and sprinted forward. When she crashed onto solid ground, she sighed in relief, rubbing her now throbbing head. As Shepard landed next to her, she took the offered hand of a solider and got hauled to her feet. She noticed that Anderson stood on the platform, not moving. Her eyebrows pulled together as she crossed her arms. As Shepard and Anderson began to argue, she decided to scan the area for one last time.

Audrey noted the blue sky that was home to beautiful, fluffy clouds. She felt something weighing down her heart, and placed a hand over the spot where it seemed to throb. She closed her eyes, biting down on her lip.

There was the sudden noise of the aircraft moving away, causing her eyes to burst open. She scanned the area, and spotted the boy from before rushing towards another air craft. One of the hands suddenly appeared though, wreaking havoc. Audrey's eyebrows furrowed as she tensed, desperately hoping that he'd get out of there. When he got himself aboard the aircraft, a smile of relief crossed her face, only to be replaced with a scream of horror being ripped from her throat as the air craft was destroyed.

Tears streamed down her face as she dropped to her knees, sobbing as her entire frame shook. She closed her eyes as she bawled, suddenly hitting the metal ground with her balled up fists. A hand rested itself on her back, yet as Audrey looked up and met Shepard's eyes, she knew that even the bravest and toughest soldier was falling apart.

Audrey had been on the Normandy for three days now, and after losing Kaiden to Dr. Eva she found herself more alone than ever. She'd always been chatting with him, but now that he was in the Citadel, she found herself scared and lonely. Liara seemed nice, but also seemed too busy. She knew for a fact that Shepard was too busy, and to be honest, the older soldier, named James, scared her. She'd thought about talking to other crew members, but found herself shy.

It wasn't until after Shepard returned from a moon in orbit around Palaven that she met someone new and who seemed friendly. His name was Garrus, and he was a Turian. Of course, being her little shy self, Audrey didn't directly approach him. Shepard had asked her to drop off some tools at the Main Battery and Audrey had done so.

As she had been strolling in, she didn't notice that Garrus was in the room. She'd set the tools down on a nearby bench and approached a large looking machine. Just as she was about to touch it, a voice rang out. "Don't touch!" a voice had shouted, causing her to gasp and draw back. There Garrus stood, and she could already tell that she would be like an ant to him.

"Eh…er…I-I'm sorry…" she murmured, shrinking back. "It just looked so intricate and complex. I wanted to study it and see how it was built so that when I'm older and if I ever want to build a ship I could remember how this one was built since this is a fine, fine ship." Audrey stopped talking, blushing a bit when she realized she'd been rambling. "Er…sorry…I talk a lot."

She had fiddled with her fingers for a second before shuffling towards the door. "Wait." Audrey had stopped, turning and facing Garrus. He looked her in the eye, and that's when she really got a look at his scars. The honor of meeting him suddenly welled up in her chest. "Are you interesting in engineering?" he had asked. When Audrey vigorously nodded, he had gestured towards a stand with a screen hovering over it. "Maybe I can help you learn a few things…"

From that day on, whenever Audrey woke up, she rushed over to the Main Battery, excited to improve her knowledge with engineering. One day however, a week after meeting Garrus, she found herself feeling abnormally sick. She hustled to her feet and rushed over into the women's restroom, vomiting into one of the toilets. Wiping her mouth with the black sleeve of her sweatshirt, she gasped at the sight of her vomit. It wasn't vomit…it was blood.

That's when Audrey noticed the throbbing coming from her wrist. She yanked up her sleeve, ripped off her bandages and felt tears welling up in her eyes at the sight of the bite mark. A strange, black and blue essence was oozing out of the wound, the skin surrounding it turning black with glowing blue cracks.

Tears began to stream down her face as she collapsed to her knees. She knew from that point and on, she was a walking time bomb.

On her thirteenth birthday, Audrey awoke to the world twisting and turning. Deeply confused, she sat up, clutching her head she narrowed her eyes, trying to see past the twisting and turning. Somehow, she got to her feet, willing her legs to move forward as she attempted to make it to the door. She reached for it as she neared the object, yet suddenly found black dots clouding her vision. A gasp escaped her, and she collapsed to the ground.

It was announced later that day; Audrey was to be killed the next day. Mordin told Shepard and a few other members that he would be inserting a fluid that was to quickly, painlessly shut down her organs.

Audrey was not informed of this, however. She just lay in the infirmary, an arm covering her eyes as she breathed in and out. The teenager was awake, but was thinking deeply. She had convinced herself that she would be getting better over time, and she believed this with a passion. Her engineering career was too difficult to give up all because of a simple bit, and she didn't want to put any time Garrus had used to teach her to waste. She needed to stay alive, and that's what she was planning out at the moment.

When Shepard, Mordin and Garrus entered the infirmary with downcast eyes, however, she immediately went into alert mode. "What did you tell them?" she asked Mordin, holding a strong gaze.

"Ah, immune system very low. Immune system weakened by bite from Cannibal. Typical," Mordin informed her, returning the gaze. Audrey held the gaze for a moment before giving a 'hmph' and crossing her arms, resting in her bed. "Forgive patient. Very moody from bite," he told the other two.

Shepard nodded before strolling over towards Audrey, who was examining her nails. She looked up from her nails, however, when the other two reached her side. They both saw the edges of her lips twitch. "Come to say, 'Hope you get better' or 'Happy birthday even though you're immune system is overheating', because if so, I've heard it over ten times from people I'm not even familiar with already," she told them, voice bored. Happiness and sadness shone in her bright green eyes, however, and Shepard gave a small smile. Audrey returned the smile with a much wider one. "Sorry, Mordin hasn't allowed me to do anything all day. I've been cooped up in the bed ever since I woke up two hours ago. He's been running tests. I just wanna be making something or fixing something, not examining how my bones move in my hand!" she exclaimed, flailing her arms. A wince escaped her, immediately followed by her clutching at her shoulder. Garrus crossed his arms, giving her a look. "We were told that you'd been having symptoms before this. Why didn't you tell any of us?" he asked, voice strict.

Audrey shrank back into her bed, body posture just screaming out submission. "I-I didn't want to add any more trouble," she admitted, voice ashamed. "Both of you are in such difficult positions…I didn't want to add any more burdens."

The two looked at each other, making eye contact. Garrus nodded as some silent decision was made through their gazes, and Shepard sighed, resting hand on Audrey's forearm. "Listen Audrey, we're not angry. We were just scared for you…we still are. Audrey…" The girl looked up from her clasped hands, eyes wide. "There's no cure for the bite."

Audrey's eyes widened, and visibly welled up with tears. Those tears were immediately streaming down her face, dripping off of her chin. Audrey began to shake her head slowly, breathing growing more rapid. "No," she croaked. Shepard gave her a pitiful stare, and opened her mouth, prepared to say something when Audrey screamed out, "NO! I CAN'T DIE! I'M THIRTEEN! I WILL NOT DIE! I REFUSE TO!" She began to sob, the noise echoing throughout the infirmary. Hiccups escaped her as she continued to do so, her body shaking and trembling.

Shepard looked over at Mordin, who was staring at Audrey with emotionless eyes. The two made eye contact, and Mordin nodded to the door. "Let you visit tomorrow before. Goodbye," he told them, and the two left, still hearing Audrey's sobs echo throughout the ship.

It was the next day, and Audrey was hooked up to life support. Her skin was unusually pale, almost snow white, and her green eyes were glossy and staring off into space. A rough, wheezy noise emitted from her whenever she breathed, exhaling and inhaling proving to be a difficulty.

Mordin informed Shepard that Audrey had only gotten two hours of sleep, and that consisted of her screaming and sobbing in her sleep. He also told the Commander that her heart had almost stopped beating, and that's when she was hooked to life support. Shepard had a look of worry and sadness as she stared at the thirteen year old. "How much longer until…" she trailed off, not wanting to finish her sentence.

Mordin looked over at Audrey too, eyes narrowing. "Was planning two hours, but bite proved to be problem. Twenty minutes is decision," he informed her, causing Shepard's face to become grim.

Shepard looked Mordin in the eyes, her expression dark. "What's the bite done to her?" she asked, voice calm. Mordin knew better though. Shepard was concerned.

"Er…bite infecting system, transforming her into either Husk or Cannibal," Mordin told her, voice neutral. Shepard took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she rubbed at her temples. "Do not worry, not contagious in air."

Shepard looked over at Audrey, or what was left of the new teen. She was breathing steadily, but the wheezing was still present. "May I look at her wrist?" she questioned, eyes not leaving Audrey. Mordin nodded, and before he knew it, Shepard was taking large strides over to the girl.

When Shepard laid her eyes on Audrey's wrist, her eyes narrowed. A black essence was taking over her skin, and it was just above the elbow. Cracks were visible in it, emitting a glowing, blue light. The hand was constantly twitching, the arm joining the hand every now and then. Shepard felt the need to probe it, but held back, busying herself with looking at Audrey.

"Why are you here?" a hoarse voice whispered, voice barely even there. Shepard's eyes widened for a second before returning to normal when she spotted Audrey's glossy eyes gazing at her. "I'm not the girl you saved on Earth anymore," she murmured, voice cracking multiple times.

Shepard crossed her arms, posture immediately taking on the defiant position that was well-known. Audrey's lips twitched, but no smile appeared. "You're still you, Audrey," Shepard told her, voice controlled. Her eyes told otherwise. "You're not dead."

"Yet."

"Excuse me?"

Audrey's confused gaze turned into an angered glare. "I'm not dead yet. In twenty minutes, I'll be a corpse of a thirteen year old who was infected like all the people in friggan zombie games!" she exclaimed, flailing her arms. The heart monitor picked up, but Audrey ignored it. "This is just so unfair! I thought I had a chance of actually living, of actually seeing the end of this cursed war!" she hissed, face twisted into a snarl. "But no! Stupid fate decided to play me like a game of checkers, and ended up deciding to kill me!" Angry tears were suddenly streaming down her face. Shepard was taken aback when she saw that the water that made up tears was a glowing blue essence.

Audrey hung her head, sobbing silently. Her shoulders shook as she did so. Shepard stared at her before sighing, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Audrey…I don't regret saving you. I'm sorry that you got bitten…I'm sorry that you couldn't become an engineer and I'm sorry that you're dying," Shepard whispered, voice sincere and apologizing. Audrey didn't look up however, instead, Shepard found herself being in the embrace of the thirteen year old.

"You better not die, you idiot," Audrey murmured, voice softer yet commanding. Shepard smiled sadly, and patted her on the back. "If you do though…I'll be waiting for you."

"Where can I meet you, Audrey?" Shepard asked, pulling back so she could make eye contact for one last time.

Audrey returned the gaze Shepard gave her, putting as much life as possible into her once glossy eyes. "The bar."

Shepard gave a restrained laugh, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. "Why do you say that?"

"Garrus told me about one of your worst hangovers," Audrey told her, grinning widely. Shepard observed the grin, trying to make a mental snapshot of the way her face lit up. "You know…you were kind of like my second mom, and Garrus was kind of like my second dad…will you two do me a favor?"

Shepard retook her defiant position. "Depends on what it is."

"Can you two survive the war…and adopt a child? If you do adopt a child…could you name it after me?" she asked, voice quiet. She gave Shepard an innocent stare as Shepard looked away, holding a small blush now.

"How did you know?" Shepard asked, voice revealing her embarrassment.

"Garrus talks about you all the time, and the fact that you take him on every single mission is proof enough," Audrey revealed, causing Shepard to blush even more.

Mordin suddenly walked forward, holding a syringe in one hand. Shepard saw Audrey shrink back into her bed, and felt a feeling of guilt and sadness surge forward in her chest. "Injection now," he informed them both. "Cannot take any more time in risk of transformation occurring."

Shepard faced Audrey once again, seeing the tears well up in the girl's green eyes. She took Audrey's hand, shooting her a reassuring gaze. "I'm afraid, Shepard," Audrey admitted as Mordin grabbed the IV packet. "What will happen?"

Shepard held the girl's gaze as Mordin injected the liquid. "You'll be fine, Audrey," she murmured, voice strong. "Hey, I'll meet you in the bar, right?" Audrey grinned, her entire face brightening.

"Not until a century, okay?" Audrey told her, voice strict. Shepard smiled, and the smile faded when she saw Audrey's eyelids droop. "Shepard…I feel sleepy," she admitted, voice dragging in certain parts.

Shepard squeezed Audrey's hand, feeling her throat tighten. She swallowed roughly before shooting a supportive smile. "You'll be fine, Audrey."

Audrey sank back into her pillows, yet remained her gaze with Shepard. "I'll miss you, Athena. Tell Garrus I love him…and you too," she murmured, eyes closing. Shepard restrained a sob as the heart monitor's beeping slowly decreased. "Thank you for letting me live." With that, the beeping stopped, drawing a tearless sob from a breaking Commander.

But that was just the beginning of losses.

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**I don't know if that was sad, but I enjoyed writing it, that's for sure! I hopefully got the character's personalities right. I think I made Garrus OOC. I'll have to work on that. **

**Thanks for reading, and reviews would be appreciated. ^_^ Have a good day/week! **


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